The Internet is a global network connecting millions of computers and linking users in more than 100 countries into exchanges of data, news and opinions. Unlike online services, which are centrally controlled, the Internet is decentralized. Each Internet enabled computer is independent, such that its user can choose which Internet services to use and which local services to make available to the global Internet community.
There are many types of content available via the Internet, including textual content, graphical content, audio content and video content. The amount of content available via the Internet is virtually unlimited. Accordingly, it can prove difficult for a user of an Internet enabled computer to identify and locate content of a particular type and relating to a particular subject.
A popular solution to finding desired content is to use a publicly available search engine. A search engine searches documents for specified keywords and returns a list of documents where the keywords were found. Typically, a search engine utilizes a webcrawler to provide documents. An indexer then typically reads the webcrawler provided documents and creates an index based on the words contained in each document. Each search engine typically uses its own methodology to create indices such that, ideally, only meaningful results are returned for each query. This is not always true though due to the complex nature and nuances of human language and efforts by document authors or providers to fool or trick the indexer into ranking its documents above those of others. Examples of conventional search engines include those made available via www.yahoo.com, www.google.com and www.search.com, all by way of non-limiting example only.
Accordingly, there is a need for a system and method of using the Internet as a global network to unite people with common interests. Such a system and method may be used as productivity tools for business, and to educate and entertain consumers.